With thunderous applause and city officials cutting the proverbial red ribbon, Boulder's first large-scale bicycle-sharing program kicked off Friday morning with 100 volunteers delivering 100 bright-red bikes to a dozen stations across the city.

And waiting at the first station to be filled was Boulder resident Graham Hill, who immediately checked out the first bike.

"This is pretty exciting," said Graham, who purchased a 24-hour pass from the computer kiosk at 15th and Pearl streets. "It's a natural extension of the branding of this community."

As Graham peddled away to run errands, dozens more volunteers fanned out to stations along the Boulder Creek Path, at the Boulder Public Library and all along the downtown corridor.

The program, which mirrors the Denver B-cycle program, allows users to pay a fee for an annual membership, a seven-day pass or a 24-hour pass. During the membership period, riders can check out any bike at any B-cycle station for up to one hour without paying an additional fee.

What it is: B-cycle is a public bike-sharing program that allows members to check out bikes for an unlimited number of short rides without additional costs. Rides longer than one hour incur additional charges.

What it costs: Riders must purchase a membership to use a B-cycle bike. Memberships in Boulder will cost $50 for one year, $15 for seven days or $5 for 24 hours. During the membership period, riders can check out bikes an unlimited number of times. Every trip that's one hour or less is free, but rides longer than one hour cost an additional $4 per 30 minutes. A user may return a bike to a B-cycle station and immediately check out the bike again for another hour of use with no additional fee. There is a $1,000 fee for a lost or stolen bike.

How to buy: B-cycle memberships can be purchased online at boulder.bcycle.com, or at any station kiosk. Memberships require the use of a credit card, which also can be used in lieu of a membership card to access a B-cycle account at any kiosk.

Where they are: Currently, there are 12 stations and 100 bikes available. The stations are located at the following locations:

10th and Walnut streets

15th and Pearl streets

11th and Pearl streets

13th and Spruce streets

Boulder Public Library along Arapahoe Avenue

1777 Broadway at the Boulder Creek Path

Alpine Avenue and Broadway

26th and Pearl streets

1600 28th St.

19th Street at the Boulder Creek Path

3375 Mitchell Lane

3080 Center Green Drive

Rides longer than one hour are charged an additional $4 per 30 minutes -- which is designed to encourage quick turnaround and bike availability.

If a station is ever full, users are pointed to the next closest station and receive a 15-minute grace period.

Passes are available online at boulder.bcycle.com or at any B-cycle station, and all it takes to sign up is a valid credit card.

Bikes can be checked out between 5 a.m. and midnight, but can be returned any time. Boulder also will be the first of the handful of cities with B-cycle programs to offer access to the bikes year-round.

Lewis Wolman, executive director of Boulder B-cycle -- the nonprofit group that will manage the system -- said the program's launch represents a huge leap in bike sharing in Boulder.

"It's been a year in the making," Wolman said. "We invite everyone in Boulder to try it out."

He said the B-cycle concept is all about making alternative transportation fun and easy, while providing a way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles.

"Our aspiration was to become a beloved Boulder institution," he said. "Having bikes available on the corner -- we think that's really going to make a difference."

While the initial launch offers riders 12 stations and 100 bikes, Wolman said he hopes the system expands to 17 stations and 150 bikes by the end of the year.

That's music to the ears of Joe Bruce, a Boulder resident and Google employee who volunteered to ride one of the bikes to the station at 26th and Pearl streets.

"I love it," he said. "The B-cycle is going to be handy."

Steve Sander, director of strategic marketing for the city of Denver, which completed its first full year of B-cycle bike sharing last year, said Boulder is a "natural fit" for the program," but it will be up to residents and visitors to decide whether it's a success.

"You've got to get bigger and you've got to get more relevant," he said of bike-sharing programs such as B-cycle.

One way Boulder B-cycle could easily double in size is to tackle the University of Colorado campus. Only one station is now located on CU property, at 19th Street and the Boulder Creek Path, but CU officials said Friday that they look forward to the day that B-cycle expands to the broader campus.

Anne Heinz, dean of continuing education and professional studies at CU, was among the volunteer riders.

She said having one station on CU property is "a good start."

"It's another way the university and the city can partner," she said.

B-cycle officials said having those kinds of public and private partnerships will be a critical part of growing the system over time.

Speaking to the volunteer riders before their maiden voyages on Friday, Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne said B-cycle fills a long-needed hole in the city's transportation infrastructure.

"We've invested millions of dollars building our off-street bike paths," she said. "It seemed like there was this missing piece."

B-cycles, she said, will complete the puzzle.

"We love these things, and we expect it to be a great, great success," she said before committing to ride a B-cycle every day for the rest of the year.

Lisa Dumont leads a B-cycle group on a ride to NCAR during the opening day of the program. Boulder B-cycle is a community nonprofit formed to implement and operate a bike-share system in the City of Boulder.
Cliff Grassmick/ May 20, 2011 (CLIFF GRASSMICK)

MacIntyre feels Colorado is capable of making run at bowl gameCU BUFFS FALL CAMPWhen: 29 practices beginning Wednesday morning 8:30-11 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday practices are open to the media and public next week. Full Story

It didn't take long for Denver music observers to notice Plume Varia. Husband and wife Shon and Cherie Cobbs formed the band only two years ago, but after about a year they started finding themselves on best-of lists and playing the scene's top venues. Full Story